MECH 3203: MECHANICS OF MACHINES AND VIBRATIONS

CASE STUDY 1 (EPICYCLIC GEAR)

Submission Date: 7/08/2020

Students need to read and understand a journal paper entitled “Static and Dynamic Analysis of Epicyclic
Gear Train” on how the author of the paper conducted an experimental analysis to study statics and
dynamics of epicyclic gear trains. The students need to submit the theoretical calculations of the stresses
(handwritten), percentage of errors and mechanical efficiency in one table (softcopy) for the experiment
and simulation analysis that have been done by the author. The calculations of the percentage of error &
mechanical efficiency must be tabulated in the table below. The students may refer to any other journal
papers or technical papers as your references. The dateline for this case study is 7th August 2020 (before
5.30pm). All submission must be by e-mail to nursherida.jalaluddin@iukl.edu.my
Table 1

(20 marks)
(CLO1:PLO1:C3)

I. Introduction
The Planetary Gear Box known as Epicyclic Gear Box possess many characteristics that make them to use
in place of parallel-axis drives. Planetary Gear Systems are Complex, Multi-Mesh Systems. Planet gears
that are in mesh with a sun gear and a ring gear and are connected by a carrier through pins. Planetary gears
are typically classified as simple and compound planetary gears. Simple planetary gears have one sun, one
ring, one carrier, and one planet set. Compound planetary gears involve one or more of the following three
types of structures: Meshed-Planet (At Least Two More Planets in Mesh With Each Other In Each Planet
Train), Stepped-Planet (There Exists A Shaft Connection Between Two Planets In Each Planet Train), And
Multi-Stage Structures (The System Contains Two Or More Planet Sets). Compared to simple Planetary
Gears, Compound Planetary Gears have the advantages of larger reduction ratio, Higher Torque-To-Weight
Ratio, and more flexible configurations. That is why planetary gear systems widely used in the industry,
National Defense and Aerospace. It is proved that equal sharing of the input torque between the Planet
Gears of The Planetary Gear train assembly is not possible practically, because of existence of
manufacturing errors, and assembly variations. The objective of this study is to measure load sharing
between planet gears for Statics and Dynamics conditions. There are strain gauges mounted on the planet
pins for instantaneous measurement of planet loads regardless of whether the errors are constant or time-
varying.
In Dynamic analysis stresses developed in the rim of the ring gear are simulated by using HYPERMESH
and LS-Dyna Solver and these results are validated experimentally. For experimentation strain gauges are
placed on the rim of ring gear and DEWE-43 DAQ System and Panopticnode J-Logger are used for the
measuring and data logging purpose.
The main objective of the project work is to find an effective way for the measuring of load sharing of the
planet pins of the planetary gear box in static as well as dynamic conditions.
2.0 Experimental Setup
Planetary gear box contains sun gear, ring gear and three planet gears in 120° angle to each other. In this
gear box, input is given to the sun gear and output is given to the carrier. The 3 HP motor having maximum
3000 RPM is attached to the planetary gear box step with a flexible coupling in between output shaft of
motor and input shaft of planetary gear box. Brake drum dynamometer is attached on the output shaft of
planetary gear box and two S type load cells are used to measure force with a two decimal accuracy.

3.0 Theoretical Stress

The Theoretical Stresses are calculated by considering pin as a cantilever beam on which the forces are
exerted as shown in Free Body Diagram of the planetary gear set in Fig. 2. Then the load sharing is given
by Equation 1 as below.

Equation 1

Fig. 2 Free Body Diagram Of Planetary Gear Set

Marking Scheme

No Item Marks
1 Stress theoretical calculations 5
2 Percentage of error, efficiency calculations & references 15

Total 20

(CLO1:PLO2:C3)